Thursday, July 12, 2012

6 arrested in casino credit card scam www.privateofficer.com

NORTH COUNTY CA July 12 2012 — Investigators broke up an extensive North County casino fraud case Saturday when Pala Casino security officers detained six men and women from the Los Angeles area, sheriff’s officials said.

The six are believed to be part of a larger crew organized to make counterfeit cards and steal credit card numbers, then use them for cash advances at several casinos, sheriff’s Sgt. Darryl Kimball said.

Kimball called the losses “fairly significant” but declined to be more specific.

Security officers at the Pala Casino on state Route 76 called about 2 a.m. for deputies to take custody of the three men and three women, all in their 20s and 30s.

They had kept returning to some of the same casinos over the past two months, and security officers were able to identify them from video of past transactions using cards that later proved to have been fake or stolen, Kimball said.